Get Sparky!

If you want a preview of the book I talked about in my last blog (and win me some sparkpoints and who knows what else), go to the link below and enjoy!

http://book.sparkpeople.com/book.asp?u=MOHO13

The Spark

I have been on a web site since May of last year, a nutrition/fitness/lifestyle change web site. It's a free site that emphasizes community while making healthy choices in fitness and nutrition.

Called SparkPeople, I have loved the community part of it since the day I joined. But, I will full well admit, I haven't been very sparky in that I didn't particularly well follow the plan or I cheated on it. It definitely goes to show that it's often not the plan that doesn't work, but the us following the plan!

Well, they have put out a book, "The Spark". I have read the intro chapters to it and LOVED it. The stories of excuses all made sense to me and the ways suggested to motivate yourself made even more sense to me. In the book they have a 28-day plan that differs from their online 12-week plan. I think the 12-week plan intimidated me a bit and that's why I was never particularly religious about following anything.

I should pause to note, when I say plan, I mean a suggested outline of meals that you can modify or just not use. They are big proponents of learning portion sizes and simply how to live your best life while eating healthy and incorporating fitness.

Back to the book!

I have started week 1 of the 28-day plan and I am far more excited for this than I ever have been because the goals for this week are doable. They make sense. They're small changes that I can make.

Everything about this book just makes sense. So if you're looking to lose weight, eat better, or encourage someone else to be healthier, this book is a solid investment. No more of the crap that doesn't work, or if it does, not for long. This is about changing the way you look at food and finding what works and what doesn't. It's process, one that will ultimately better you.

Trust me, this is the book to buy when you're looking to make a positive change in your health.

P.S. if you decide to join the site, (a) give me credit please (I'm all about the sparkpoints) and (b) add me as a friend. My username is: moho13.

Almost Post Fall Semester...

Again, not a huge update. All presentations are DONE!!! I did well on all of them I believe and take much comfort in that. I am currently taking a break from a lovely little something called comprehensive exams. Essentially, it is an exit exam of essays that I am required to pass in order to graduate. Two down, one to go. I'm feeling good about them, so can't complain about that!

Otherwise, tomorrow I have one paper to finish and during the week next week, I have two papers to write. Then... done! For the semester that is. All I have next semester is applying for jobs during the year, one class, writing my thesis, working a job, and hopefully picking up another one. Not too busy at all! Really!

Time to go bang... out the last essay. What did you think I was going to say??? I have no life for such things. Please. Keep it clean people.

Insert Witty Title Here

There is not much wittiness to post on.

Four presentations, three papers, and a test all before Thanksgiving.

My exit exams the weekend after.

I don't believe complete insanity explains it well enough...

NEM: After

I walked a total of 4.5 miles.

My feet are dirty. My body hurts. I have a major sunburn. I had a fiasco of a time finding the guys and gals I am ever proud to march with. I was hungry.

But every single minute of this day was worth it.

Not a spot of rain since yesterday. A beautiful day. And in the midst of this beautiful day with no rain was a rainbow.

I stood in awe looking at this sight. I sat in church this morning, teaching Sunday School, thinking about hatred and whether or not there is a place for it in this world. And I looked at this rainbow shining high above the sun and I knew that there simply isn't a place for that hatred. Sadly, it exists, but its use is very little.

I wish I could share with you the power of being in this place at this time. Regardless of whether you agree with LGBTQ rights, the moment was one of strength and solidarity. Every single one of these people was there to show support for equality, for rights, for justice. They stood up with one voice and demanded that this is their time.

And I am imminently proud that I stood with these all of these people and demanded it for my fellow man and woman who do not have the rights I do. Gay, straight, Black, white, Christian, Jewish, punk, classic, big boobs, little boobs, ba-donk-a-donk butts, flat butts... you name it, somebody was there representing it, standing in solidarity for equality.

Yes, every moment was worth whatever I may be physically feeling now because I stood with a great many people who inspired me and reminded me that we will have a better tomorrow because of the amazing people fighting for it.

Marching for an Equal Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for DC and for the country. The National Equality March is happening, marching from downtown to the Capitol. Throughout this weekend there are numerous events, panels, and social hours taking place - quite the undertaking.

I read in someone's facebook status yesterday that "marching for gay rights is passé." I also received an e-mail from the church I teach Sunday School at that I will be recognized at the 11:00 a.m. service as a new member of the church.

I will not be going. I will not be going because marching for my brothers and sisters is not passé. I will not be going because I believe in equality and I belive in love. We must stand together to fight bigotry and hatred. Rich, poor, Asian, African, Caucasion, handicapped, male, female, gay, straight... whatever stratifications we fall into, there are still people who are being treated as second-class citizens in a country that purports to be free.

There are those out there that use the Holy Books (place your religion of choice here) as a shield for their hatred and wield a sword of prejudice to cut people down. I refuse to do so. If you want to talk to me about religion, I'll talk to you about love. If you want to talk to me about spirituality, I'll talk to you about love. If you want to talk to me about being an aethiest, I'll STILL talk to you about love. Because I believe in the tenets of this country and the religion I practice (one that I will never boost onto another). I believe in equality and love. We won't hold a shield because we don't need one. We won't hold a sword because our hands will be held together and high in the air because we are proud and we believe that justice will someday stand for us.

I am proud to be called a straight ally. I am proud that tomorrow I will march to continue to bring attention to a plight that is not dead and certainly is not unfashionable. Because this is not about the cause of the moment, this is about people.

If you'd like to march with me (and thousands of others) tomorrow, send me a message. If you can't march with me tomorrow, then think of those thousands of people who will be and hope for a peaceful standing of what is right.

If you'd like more information on the event itself, please go to: www.NationalEqualityMarch.com

A Letter From an American Mother

This letter touched me in a way I cannot describe and I found myself nodding my head in agreement to the sheer ignorance that supposedly accepting and open people possess.

Sunday, April 30, 2000
By SHARON UNDERWOOD
For the Valley News (White River Junction, VT)

-----

Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people.

I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.

My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.

He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.

In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.

You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.

At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.

If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?

A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."

You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.

You religious folk just can't bear the thought that, as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood, he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him, or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.

How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.

You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.

The deep-thinking author of a letter on April 12 in the Valley News, who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing", asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"

Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

Sincerely,
Sharon Underwood

(Please invite others to read this, if you were moved by it.)